PUTRAJAYA, May 15 — Humanitarian aid mission, Jelajah Peduli Ummah, has been mobilised in the northern zone involving Perlis, Kedah and Penang to lighten the burden of the people affected in the ongoing Covid-19 crisis starting today until May 23.

The initiative launched by the Civil Defence Force (APM) under the Prime Minister’s Department with the Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organisation (MAPIM) as well as the cooperation of among others, the Social Welfare Department (JKM).

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions) Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Yusof said the mission is a continuity of the existing efforts of APM and MAPIM for Covid-19 crisis involving four sectors of assistance and additional services in conjunction with the month of Ramadan.

Among the sectors of focus of the mission is the distribution of basic food supply packs, Ummah Double-Decker Mobile Clinic, 365 Days with Al-Quran Programme and Tazkirah Jelajah Ramadan, he said in a statement today.

Commenting further, Mohd Redzuan said the basic food supply pack is the result of food items collected and data on asnaf (needy and poor) through the Asnaf Database Management System (ADMS) with the cooperation of JKM.

"Some 8,000 food packs consisting of rice, flour, cooking oil, canned food would be distributed according to category A, B and C depending on the number of members in the recipient’s household,” he said.

He said each pack handed over has its own barcode which could be scanned by using the mobile phone when it is delivered to the recipient and all records would be kept online (cloud based system) including the picture of recipient with information on the location and time of delivery.

"The targets of the assistance are those who are unemployed, lost their employment due to Covid-19, individuals given unpaid leave, petty traders, daily paid workers, single parents and Muslim converts,” he said.

On the Ummah Double-Decker Mobile Clinic, Mohd Redzuan said the mobile clinic involved a double decker bus with five treatment suites facilities operated by volunteers of the agencies involved.

"The initiative is implemented to provide services to the people in the rural areas who needed treatment for non-Covid-19 patients for free,” he said. — Bernama